High schooler known as local hero is shot while hunting with friends, family says

A high school student and “local hero” is hospitalized after being shot while hunting with friends in Iowa, his family says.

Joseph Salmon, an Okoboji High School student, was duck hunting when his family received a call from his best friend saying he had been shot in the head, according to a GoFundMe set up by his family.

The hunting accident happened at about 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21 near Milford in Dickinson County, the state Department of Natural Resources said in a news release. He was flown from the area to a hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the release said.

DNR officials and Iowa State Patrol are investigating the incident, the department added.

Salmon has undergone surgery but there are still two metal pellets from the shotgun blast lodged in his skull, “too deep for [surgeons] to go after,” the GoFundMe read.

“Since then, he’s moving his legs a little bit more and squeezing hands. He moves his eyes slightly with a little blinking, all good signs, but we still aren’t out of the woods,” it read.

Salmon has been in the news before under better circumstances.

In February, he was one of five people who jumped into freezing waters to rescue an 83-year-old man and his dog after the man’s Jeep broke through ice, the Des Moines Register reported.

“I’m happy that he was OK and the dog was OK. It was just crazy,” Salmon told the newspaper at the time, adding that he broke through the back window using a stranger’s knife. “I’ve never done anything like that.”

Salmon’s family, friends, school and community have stepped up to support him since the accident, offering prayers and starting fundraisers.

Even those who have never met Salmon know his reputation.

“I don’t know Joe personally, but I know he had no reservations jumping into an icy lake to rescue a man & his dog last winter,” a Facebook post said. “Time for the community to rally around a local hero in his time of need.”

Okoboji is roughly 140 miles northwest of Des Moines.

This story was originally published October 23, 2023 at 11:07 AM with the headline "High schooler known as local hero is shot while hunting with friends, family says."